Born Helen Jacobs in Brooklyn, she grew up in Queens, where she graduated from Grover Cleveland High School. She moved to South Beach in 1998 and had recently relocated to Trenton.

Mrs. Guarino enjoyed playing bingo and loved the Yankees, never missing a game on television or radio, said her daughter, Margaret Crapanzano.

Her mother also loved dogs and was very happy when she was around them. She had grown up with a dog and they were always part of her life, her daughter said.

But Mrs. Guarino was happiest when she was around her grandchildren, her daughter said.

"I'll always miss how much she loved her grandchildren," her daughter said. "But most of all I'll just miss her being here."

Mrs. Guarino was a devout Catholic and always attended masses at the senior facilities where she was residing.

She and her husband, John, were separated after 40 years of marriage.

Also surviving are her daughters, Patricia and Donna Guarino; five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

The funeral will be tomorrow from the Matthew Funeral Home, Willowbrook, with a mass at 9:30 a.m. in Our Lady of Pity R.C. Church, Bulls Head. Burial will follow in St. Peter's Cemetery, West Brighton.